Moving towards its destiny

Dr. Naveed Zaidi

Development of the world’s first workable plastic magnet at room temperature by organic chemist and polymer scientist Naveed Zaidi. Zaidi and colleagues synthesized the new material out of a combination of emeraldine base polyaniline (PANi) and tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ). The measurements made by the group indicate that the material has a Curie temperature above 350 K and, more tentatively, that it is ferri-magnetic.

The choice of materials is interesting; with PANi being a metal-like conductor that is stable in air and TCNQ serving as a source of free radicals (i.e. unpaired electrons). PANiCNQ is only about 1/100th the strength of conventional metal magnets, but the researchers are hopeful about improvements. In any case, it is good enough to pick up iron filings, which is already impressive.